Establishment

In 1994, Korea's football league was reformed and renamed the K-League. Since its creation, the league has expanded from an initial five to fourteen teams. Of the five inaugural clubs, only Daewoo, POSCO and Yukong Elephants remain in the K-League; Kookmin Bank FC dropped out of the league at the end of 1984, and Hallelujah followed the season after.

Structure

At present the K-League is the only professional league in Korea, the K-League, and it contains fourteen member clubs.

Below the level of the K-League there is the National League, a closed semi-professional/amateur league with fourteen members, established in 2003. The third level of football in Korea is the K3 League.

There is, at present, no official system of promotion and relegation between any of the three leagues, however since 2006 the champions of the National League have been eligible for promotion to the K-League provided they meet certain criteria. Goyang Kookmin Bank and Ulsan Mipo Dockyard, National League champions in 2006 and 2007 respectively, both rejected the opportunity to move up to the K-League.

The league season

The K-League season typically begins around March/April and runs to late November each year. The number of games, clubs and the systems used have varied through the years, but for 2008 the league will operate with a full stage regular season followed by a top six championship playoff system.

The fourteen member clubs play each other twice in the regular season giving a total of 26 matches. The top six sides at the end of the regular season will enter the championship playoffs. In the first two matches, the third-placed team will face the sixth-placed team and the fourth-placed team will face the fifth-placed team, with the two winners then playing off for the right to face the second-placed team. The winner of that match will then progress to the two-legged championship playoff final where the first-placed side lie in wait, with the overall winner of the home and away series being crowned champions for 2007.

The K-League champions gain entry to the AFC Champions League the following season.

K-League member clubs in 2008

• Busan I'Park
• Chunnam Dragons
• Daegu FC
• Daejeon Citizen
• FC Seoul
• Gwangju Sangmu Phoenix
• Gyeongnam FC
• Incheon United
• Jeju United FC
• Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
• Pohang Steelers
• Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma
• Suwon Samsung Bluewings
• Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i

A number of the member clubs are owned by major Korean Chaebols, and the club names reflect that fact. Teams have adopted local city names in an effort to integrate themselves more with the local communities; for example, Daewoo evolved over the years into Daewoo Royals, Busan Daewoo Royals, Busan I'cons and latterly Busan I'Park.

Although a number of K-League teams have relocated in the past, the Lucky Goldstar (LG) corporation caused a huge controversy at the end of 2003 when they made the decision to uproot their Anyang LG Cheetahs team from the Seoul satellite city of Anyang and move into the empty Seoul World Cup stadium, becoming FC Seoul. Then following the 2005 season SK announced it was moving the Bucheon SK team to the island of Jeju, where they became Jeju United FC.

K-League history

Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma are the most successful team in terms of championship victories, having lifted the title on no less than seven occasions. The roll-call of champions is as follows (present-date names included where teams have changed names previously):

K-League champions

• Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma: 1993, 1994, 1995, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006
• Busan I'Park: 1984, 1987, 1991, 1997
• Pohang Steelers: 1986, 1988, 1992, 2007
• Suwon Samsung Bluewings: 1998, 1999, 2004
• FC Seoul: 1985, 1990
• Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i: 1996, 2005
• Hallelujah: 1983
• Jeju United: 1989
• Anyang LG Cheetahs: 2000

Winners (year by year)

Winner (by team)

K-League Sponsors

• 1983-1985: Korean Football Super League (No Sponsor)
• 1986: Football Festival & Professional Football Championship (Two kinds of championships, No Sponsor)
• 1987-1992: Korean Professional Football Championship (No Sponsor)
• 1993-1995: Hite Cup Korean League
• 1996-1997: Rapido Cup Korean League
• 1998: Hyundai Cup K-League
• 1999: Buy Korea Cup K-League
• 2000: Samsung Digital K-League
• 2001: POSCO K-League
• 2002: Samsung PAVV K-League
• 2003-present: Samsung Hauzen K-League

All-time K-League member clubs

There have been a total of 17 member clubs in the history of the K-League - those clubs are listed below with their current names (where applicable):

• Hallelujah (1983-1985)
• Hanil Bank (1984-1986)
• Busan I'Park (1983-present) (formerly Busan Daewoo Royals)
• Pohang Steelers (1983-present)
• Kookmin Bank (1983-1984)
• Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i (1984-present)
• Gwangju Sangmu Phoenix (1985; 2003-present)
• Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma (1989-present)
• Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (1994-present) (formerly Jeonbuk Buffalo)
• Chunnam Dragons (1995-present)
• Suwon Samsung Bluewings (1996-present)
• Daejeon Citizen (1997-present)
• Daegu FC (2003-present)
• FC Seoul (1984-present)
• Incheon United (2004-present)
• Jeju United FC (1983-present)
• Gyeongnam FC (2006-present)
• Bucheon SK (1996-2005)
• Anyang LG Cheetahs (1996-2003)
• Cheonan Ilhwa Chunma (1996-1999)

Famous players

• - formerly of Busan I'Park.
• - formerly of Anyang LG Cheetahs.
• - formerly of Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i.
• - formerly of Chunnam Dragons, Pohang Steelers, Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma and Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
• - formerly of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.
• - Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma.
• - Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
• (registered as POPO) - formerly of Busan I'Park and Gyeongnam FC.
• - Chunnam Dragons. Formerly of Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
• - Chunnam Dragons. Formerly of Daegu FC.
• - Gyeongnam FC. Formerly of Pohang Steelers.
• - formerly of Pohang Steelers.
• - formerly of Anyang LG Cheetahs and Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
• - Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
• - formerly of Anyang LG Cheetahs and Pohang Steelers.
• - formerly of Anyang LG Cheetahs and Incheon United.
• (registered as KONAN) - formerly of Pohang Steelers.
• - Busan I'Park and Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
• - formerly of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.
• - formerly of Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
• (registered as "GABIE") - formerly of Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
• - formerly of Chunnam Dragons and Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma.
• - formerly of Pohang Steelers.
• - formerly of Busan Daewoo, Suwon Samsung Bluewings and Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma.
• - formerly of Busan Daewoo/I.cons and Incheon United.
• - formerly of Busan I.cons and Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
• - formerly of Incheon United.
• - Busan I'Park. Formerly of Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
• - formerly of Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i.
• - formerly of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.
• - formerly of Pohang Steelers.
• - formerly of Suwon Samsung Bluewings and Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i.
• - formerly of Busan Daewoo and Pohang Steelers.
• - formerly of Pohang Steelers.
• - formerly of Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i.
• - formerly of Pohang Steelers, Suwon Samsung Bluewings and Chunnam Dragons.
• - Suwon Samsung Bluewings. Formerly of Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma.
• - formerly of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma.
• - formerly of Chunnam Dragons, Suwon Samsung Bluewings and Gyeongnam FC.
• - Pohang Steelers. Formerly of Bucheon SK.
• - formerly of Busan Daewoo.
• - formerly of Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i.
• - formerly of Chunnam Dragons and Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
• - Daejeon Citizen. Formerly of Suwon Samsung Bluewings and Chunnam Dragons.
• - formerly of Suwon Samsung Bluewings, Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma and Busan I'Park.
• - formerly of Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i.
• - formerly of Pohang Steelers and Gwangju Sangmu.
• - FC Seoul. Formerly of Bucheon SK.
• - Suwon Samsung Bluewings. Formerly of Daejeon Citizen.
• Lee Sa-Vik (formerly Jasenko Sabitović) - Chunnam Dragons. Formerly of Pohang Steelers, Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma and Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
• - Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
• - formerly of Anyang LG Cheetahs.
• - formerly of Busan I'Park and Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i.
• - FC Seoul.
• - formerly of Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
• - formerly of Pohang Steelers.
• - formerly of Chunnam Dragons and Daegu FC.
• Valeri Sarychev (a.k.a. "Shin Eui-Son" or Hand of god) - formerly of Cheonan Ilhwa, Anyang Cheetahs FC and FC Seoul.
• - formerly of Anyang LG Cheetahs and Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
• - Formerly of Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma.
• - Suwon Samsung Bluewings. Formerly of Busan I'Park.
• - Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i. Formerly of Busan I'Park, Pohang Steelers Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma.
• - Formerly of Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i.
• - Formerly of Bucheon SK, Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.

See also

• List of football clubs in South Korea
• List of South Korean footballers
• List of Korea-related topics
• Sports league attendances

External links

• Official K-League website (Korean only)
• ROKfootball.com website (English only)
• Footcoreen.com website (French only)
• Regular K-League news and player profiles